Nick Foles doing the right things for Eagles

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles' ability to protect the ball and win football games has garnered high praise from his head coach, Chip Kelly. Foles has tossed 16 touchdown passes this season and has the Eagles in position for a run at the NFC East crown.

PHILADELPHIA - Nick Foles is putting up a dizzying array of numbers as quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles, but his head coach said he's concerned with only two of them.

"The big thing for me with our quarterbacks is wins, No. 1, and interceptions, No. 2," said Chip Kelly. "And he's been really good at both of those."

He sure has, and at a number of other things, too, which is why he's the top-rated passer in the NFL, after reaching enough attempts to qualify for the rankings.

As the Eagles (6-5) begin their bye week atop the NFC East and on a three-game winning streak, Foles tops all QBs with a 128.0 rating. Peyton Manning of Denver is second at 118.3. Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers, who set the NFL record of 122.5 in 2011, is third at 108.0.

Foles, who has 16 TD passes, is the only one of 33 qualifiers without an interception. He's thrown 162 passes this year and 199 over two seasons without a pick.

Foles' yards per attempt average of 9.59 is easily the best in the league. No one else is above 9, and only five are better than 8 yards per attempt.

It's all very heady stuff for someone who didn't start until mid-October, and Kelly said the second-year pro is deserving.

Asked if Foles is playing extraordinary football or if his performance is a function of Kelly's offense hitting its stride, Kelly credited Foles.

"It's always about the individual, so it doesn't matter what plays are called or what scheme is run - they still have to be executed," said Kelly. "I think he's executing them, and all the credit goes to him. He works extremely hard at it. He's got a really good grasp on what we're doing, extremely accurate in his throws, doing a great job of just making decisions and not putting the ball in harm's way."

Kelly said when he arrived from Oregon that he would tailor his offense to fit the team's talent and said Monday that's simply smart coaching.

"There's flexibility in what we do in terms of it's always based on personnel," said Kelly. "I've had different style quarterbacks in my career. So I think anybody that's smart at what they're doing is gonna cater their offense to what they do."

Kelly cited Denver's John Fox, noting that he has won games with Tim Tebow and Manning as his quarterback.

"When he had Tim Tebow, he ran one offense, and they did a helluva job, and they went to the playoffs," said Kelly. "Then he had Peyton Manning, and the offense changed. He didn't ask Peyton Manning to do what Tim Tebow was doing, but he also didn't ask Tim Tebow to do what Peyton Manning did.

"If you have a guy who is more of a runner - and I had some of those guys in my career at Oregon - then we feature more quarterback runs. You've got someone who's more of a thrower, you feature more throws. You got a guy that can do both, then I think that puts more stress on the defense. But it always has to be catered to who's pulling the trigger."

Foles isn't the runner that season-opening starter Michael Vick is, but he's improving. He had career highs of nine runs and 47 yards Sunday in a 24-16 win over Washington and has 123 yards and two TDs for the season.

But Foles, 4-1 as the starter, still doesn't officially have the job. Kelly again avoided the issue, although he said he'll talk to the quarterbacks when both are healthy. Kelly hopes Vick will return from a hamstring injury that kept him out five of the last six games after the bye.